Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Getting Figgy With It

Enough with the tomatoes already.

The backyard figs have suddenly burst from green to deep purple and are behaving like typical toddlers. They want my attention and they want it NOW. And if I ignore them? They act out by throwing themselves on the ground.

Up until this year, I simply cut the figs in half, squeezed on a little lime juice and ate them greedily over the sink. If I was a little more ambitious, I'd make a simple salad of arugula greens, figs and shards of machego cheese (bitter, sweet and pungent).

This year, I followed the lead of the Food Librarian and made a fig tart. And guess what? It couldn't be simpler. Roll out the puff pastry. Crimp the edges. Scatter brown sugar over the crust. Arrange sliced figs. Top with melted butter and a little more brown sugar. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until the crust is brown.

A cheap tart: $2.00 for a sheet of puff pastry (from an Arenian market) topped with free figs

How to get "picky eater" to eat a fig? Make a fig tart. "This tastes like it came from a bakery."

As I write this, a small pot of drunken fig jam is cooking on the stove. (I'm not canning, so I divided the recipe by 8.) I have been craving fig jam ever since I spread goat cheese and the nectar on top of a cracker, thanks to poet Linda Dove. At the moment, my experiment at small-scale jam making does not look very jam-like, but we shall see.

In the meantime, there's always the tart. (The fig tart, that is. Not the toddler tart)

Fig Jam Upadate: It worked! Now that I've fig-ured that out, I just need to pick up a log of chevre.

Hey, thanks for the shout out! I'd love to hear how the black missions compared to the brown turkeys. My fig harvest has been done for several weeks, although I may get a few yet in the last little eensy ripening before the leaves fall...

by the way, I tweaked that recipe a bit when I made the jam: more lemon peel ('cause I'm a sucker for citrus), and pectin--'cause I like a thick jam.

The funny thing about Mr V is that he loves eating figs and persimmons straight off the tree. Secondly, since no one seems to want them we never felt bad about plucking some on our walks. I guess thats not always the case. An italian friend of mine has a several fig varieties besides the Mission fig but Vic remains a traditionalist.

Linda, I like the idea of adding more lemon peel. I like that marmalady taste when I get a piece of peel with the figs. I was so worried that the jam wasn't going to thicken, but it did (with no pectin).

Jean, I think a single cup of jam is my speed. I get dizzy thinking about all that jar sterilizing.

Mary, thanks. I'm sure you wouldn't have "cheated" and would have made your own pastry.

Desiree, I should have fig-ured that you'd be my fig jam go-to gal.

PA, I can picture Mr. V plucking and eating the fresh fruit straight from the tree. The fruit probably tastes better when you don't ask permission to pick (just like our trespasser picnics).

I just started learning last year that there are about a gazillion varities of figs.

Ripe figs stuffed with blue cheese and wrapped with a little prosciutto equals heaven. My mom has a fig tree in her backyard that drops tons of figs. Sadly, she's not a fig eater, so the wasps and birds benefit from that old tree's harvest. Your tart looks delicious! I can't wait to have the random trees removed from our backyard so it can get some sun. The first thing I'm planting is a fig tree.

hilarious way to describe your baby figs. I remember our fig tree in Woodland Hills, filled with incredible delectable fruit. no such thing in the northeast. I don't think you can find them fresh in the grocery. ah well.